[Python-Dev] Experiment: Adding "re" to string objects.

[MRAB]

Sean Reifschneider wrote:
> I'm mailing this to python-dev because I'd like feedback on the idea of
> adding an "re" attribute to strings.  I'm not sure if it's a good idea or
> not yet, but I figure it's worth discussion.  The module mentioned here
> includes a class called "restr()" which allows you to play with "s.re".
> 
> As some of you may recall, I'm not particularly fond of the recipe:
> 
>    m = re.match(r'whatever(.*)', s)
>    if m:
>       m.group(1)
> 
> The other morning I came up on the idea of adding an "re" to strings, so
> you could do things like:
> 
>    if s.re.match(r'whatever(.*)'):
>       print s.re.group(1)
> 
> or:
> 
>    if (date.re.match(r'(?P<year>\d\d\d\d)-(?P<month>\d\d)' or
>          date.re.match(r'(?P<month>\d\d)-(?P<year>\d\d\d\d)'):
>       print date.re.groupdict('year')
> 
[snip]
Why not drop the ".re" part? You would, however, then need a new name
for the re split, eg "re_split".

Or you could make the string the pattern, eg r'whatever(.*)'.match(s).